Congress extends E-Verify three years

The E-Verify program, which lets employers run computer checks on new hires to make sure they’re authorized to work in the U.S., was approved for another three years as part of the 2010 Homeland Security bill.

The bill, which still needs the signature of President Barack Obama, allocates $137 million for E-Verify for the next three years.

The Internet-based system is largely voluntary, although some states have passed laws requiring that businesses participate. Starting in September, all federal contractors were required to start enrolling in the system.

Some big business groups have opposed efforts to compel participation in the program, arguing that it can be burdensome, particularly for small employers. Immigrant advocates also have criticized E-Verify for incorrectly flagging people authorized to work in the U.S., including naturalized U.S. citizens.

There is still vocal opposition to the program. Gannett News Service quoted a statement from Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who has blocked E-Verify in the past and still opposes it.

“Ultimately, it’s important to have an employee verification system that is accurate and cost-efficient,” Menendez was quoted as saying in the statement. “In its current form, this particular system continues to misidentify U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, and it can create a financial burden on small business, slowing job creation as we recover from this economic crisis.”

Other lawmakers are pushing for E-Verify to become permanent. Here’s an editorial by Rep. Paul Broun (R- Ga.).

This week, workers in Chicago filed complaints , saying they were fired after being checked through E-Verify, though they were already hired. The system is designed to be used to check new hires, not those already on payroll, unless they are working on federal contracts.

40 Responses

I will bet my bottom dollar that those Chicago employees were not legal immigrants. I think the only people I see complaining about e-Verify are Illegal aliens and their supporters. E-Veriy is 99.5 percent accurate. I will bet these employees that are complaining used fake SSN and instead of self deporting, they are complaining they were wronged and they know the illegal alien supporters will back them up. The jobs they are working need to go to Americans and legal immigrants. E-Verify ensures they are legal to work here. If more businesses implement it, then we will see less illegal aliens here because they won’t be able to get jobs.

Great so we’re firing workers who are doing no harm to anyone and now they’ll be desperate. The economic impact will probably lead to higher crime. Nativists will do anything to feed their hatred even if it means ruining the country. Dumb, dumb, dumb….

Assuming that this system does make mistakes and erroneously flags people as unauthorized when they really are, and I can easily believe it does, how often does it do this? Are those errors later corrected? If so, how many of them and how long does it take? How perfect does it have to be to meet Sen. Menendez’s definition of “accurate”?

David not a gainsay, mind you, because I see what you are getting at, but don’t you think that even one US citizen or legal resident caught up in this nightmare is too many, especially if you are the one? Whenever we start saying it’s okay for some people to lose their jobs to strike at illegal aliens unjustly is time to put on the brakes.

I read the article about the Chicago employees and did not see anything about them suing because of their legality to work here. They are suing the company using the loop hole left in E-verify, that is what the special interests do, use our laws loop holes to better their people. All they have to do is prove they are in the country legally and they get their jobs back. Red Roof says when people are hired they sign a form saying that their backgrounds could be checked anytime. Looks like 5 Americans will get some much needed work.

By the way, it is the US government, not “immigration advocates”, who found serious problems with E-verify.

In 2008 the Government Accountability Office reported that 7% of the queries can’t be confirmed as work authorized by the Social Security Administration. As well the GAO reported that 1% cannot be confirmed as work authorized by immigration officials.

Likewise the Social Security Administration has admitted to errors in its system. An internal audit of the SSA in 2006 showed over 4% of records are out of date and could give “false readings” in the system. As a matter of fact, the SSA has admitted that 17.8 million of its files have incorrect data – of that total, 12.7 million concern US citizens.

This is not some fringe group. This is Uncle Sam saying E-verify sucks.

Who are the 53 people who walked away? Are they legal immigrants or citizens who can clear their name in a few days or an illegal who has no chance of clearing their false name/SS???

Are 53 people who are legal/citizens, and applied for this job and need this job, just going to walk away after an offer of employment if they can clear up any discrepencises? According to Social Security, 90% of the .5% are cleared up within two days.

The PEW Foundation released data showing that 4.9% of jobs are held by illegals, this is the same percentage of people who have walked away for resolving their name/SS discrepencies.

I don’t see a 5% error rate, I see 5% of the work force as being rightly denied work due to their immigration status.

beholder, sorry, married and zero, no dependents, no loophole for me. Haven’t had a traffic ticket in over 20 years and the one I got I paid and moved on, no loophole for me there either. As far as innocent until proven guilty, I suspect these people are not innocent. All they would have to do is prove the records are wrong and they would have a much better lawsuit but they choose not to go that route, I wonder why? You think it is because they are so concerned about the honest American citizen getting snared in e-verify?

If the govt. found all these mistakes then maybe anyone with a SS card should have their numbers run through over time to get all the kinks and problems out of the system. Oh wait, that can’t happen, it would violate all the illegals civil rights to a job and a decent living in a country they illegally entered. You and your kind fight e-verify and 287-g because they work and they work well. Any little nugget you get on those programs that shed a bad light on them you pounce on it. The thing is, the good far outweighs the bad in those situations.

If you are not a legal citizen living in this country, you should not be taking pay from anyone for work. This includes lawnmowing, car washing, roofing, cleaning, cooking. If you are a legal citizen, you should not need LaRaza, ACLU, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., or any other organization to qualify you. I think Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., is merely racist.

99.9% of legal workers will be able to clear up any problem with e-verify by visiting the nearest Social Security Office. This program correctly identifies invalid social security numbers or names and numbers that do not match.

The ONLY reason NOT to use it, is to allow undocumented workers to continue to steal jobs of legal immigrants and citizens.

Sorry man, but you are wrong. I think the way beholder chose to write it says it all:

even one US citizen or legal resident caught up in this nightmare is too many, especially if you are the one?

I know many people who *are* OK with crap like that: Oh, it’s ok to violate a few people’s right, given that the good outweighs the bad. But it is only for as long as it is not them in trouble for someone else’s mistake that they agree with that view. Come on, you keep saying that people need to work, that they need the money. But you are then ok with some (maybe just a few) that will lose (if only temporarily) their ability to work and get paid, add to that the fact that in order to challenge the mistake they have to get a lawyer that costs them even more money. What if it takes 1 week? 1 month? 1 year? Can you afford not to get paid for that amount of time? Can the company afford not to fill your spot for that long? If the company hires then someone else to do your job, what should they do once the mistake is corrected? Fire the newbie? Not hire you again?

As far as innocent until proven guilty, I suspect these people are not innocent.

Maybe the courts should just call you for every case they have: Hey Bearded, we haven’t proven him guilty, but what do you suspect? Oh, guilty? Excellent, you just saved us a lot of time and money! I’d even say you are better than Geico!!

Just stop and re-read your comment. If you do not find a contradiction then, very likely, there is no way anyone can have a meaningful discussion with you. You made up your mind and don’t care about the legal system you claim you want to protect and uphold so much.

Texan123,

where did you get your 99.9% number? Do you know that immigration and SSA do not share info for new legal immigrants? Immigration has some rules as to how you’ll be called when you come to the US, and SSA has a different one. IRS has an even different one. I know a few people that have had problems with IRS and SSA just because neither one agrees to write their names the way immigration wants.

David,

Some numbers to put this all in perspective would be nice

Definitely. Numbers would help. But I think the bigger help would come not from realizing that if the number of mistakes is small, then it’s OK to implement the system, but from realizing that, if the number of mistakes have been decreasing over time, then E-verify is moving in the right direction and should be given a try. Numbers would also help to set up a grace period, from the time the flag in a name has been raised, in order for a person to challenge it without losing his/her job.

Voting 79 for 19 against, the Senate on Oct. 20 sent President Obama the conference report on a $44.1 billion Department of Homeland Security budget for fiscal 2010. The bill (HR2892) funds agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard. The bill prevents Guantanamo Bay prisoners from being transferred to U.S. soil except for court proceedings, and bars the release of photos and videos showing U.S. mistreatment of prisoners overseas since 9/11.

The bill appropriates $16 billion for combating illegal immigration, including $800 million for physical and electronic fencing on the Mexican border and funding for 41,000 Border Patrol and Customs agents and 33,400 detention beds.

Additionally, the bill provides $1 billion for installing explosive- detection units at airports; $950 million for protecting cities against attacks; $810 million for firefighters; $400 million to protect government computer systems against cyber attacks and $122 million for air-cargo screening. A yes vote was to approve the conference report.

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You see people, we are ON TRACK to continue the fight against illegal immigration. But, will Obama stand in the way? Will Obama grant amnesty?Most of the rest of the country and Congress are OPPOSED to illegal immigration and ANY form of ammnesty, the pivotal vote is Obama and his staff of czars and “advisors”.

If you are a legal citizen, you should not need LaRaza, ACLU, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., or any other organization to qualify you

Just like someone that is mistakenly identified as the perpetrator of a crime never needs a lawyer to prove s/he is innocent, right? It is quite obvious that the system doesn’t contain any people with bad intentions. (sarcasm)

rotc, Instead of seeing an opportunity to jump me and misconstrue my words, try to understand them first. I said “suspect”, meaning I have suspicion on their motive and I made a point on that suspicion. I did not state anywhere they were guilty, just suspect, their day in court will come. As one line in the story says “Red Roof normally does not run background checks on hourly employees when they are hired, but they are required to sign a consent form that allows the company to run checks at any time during their employment,” the statement said. They are not going after the companies policy, just e-verify, once again, I suspect they are hiding something.

As far as the legal system, the one that special interest groups use and abuse to get the laws to skew in their favor, I am for changing the laws so their loopholes disappear, simple really. I think you did not like an alternate hypothesis on why they were suing about being fired. I put one out there, opened it up for debate, and you tried to slam the door on it because it did not fall in line that e-verify does not work. If you want to debate an issue then understand you will have to read points you don’t like. You did not debate my point, you chose to debate my character.

The point that I am in favor of people losing their jobs because of e-verify, only if they are here illegally. E-verify gives everyone the right to keep their job until they prove that they are not illegal, that’s fair. This story is about a companies policy on background checks and the people decided to come after the vehicle that says they are not legal instead of the companies policy. All they have to do is prove the company wrong and hit them hard on their policy, e-verify gives them that opportunity. I don’t feel the need to apoligize because I put the legal citizens right to work over the illegals right to work and any system that can keep that in check is a system I am fully behind. An illegal has no right to work here.

Rotc’s attempt at rational dialogue with Bearded is commendable. However it is clear from the telling phrase “you and your kind” that Bearded is not motivated by reason. These are words that flirt dangerously with race hatred and bigotry. At the most charitable, these are the words of a closed mind.

Bearded’s comments speak to moral absolutism, whereby the principles of truth and justice are held by a special few. These are not questions of conscience nor creed for Bearded, these are questions of nature.

His is a throwback to the past, to which he clings like an angry mollusk, his eyes sunken pits under beetle brows knit in permanent indignation at the evolution of American polity. For Bearded there are not issues to be debated: there are issues to be debased.

Ahhh, beholder, maybe I should clarify the you and your kind statement so you completely understand the term.

From reading all your posts and rants and beliefs it is easy to understand who you are on the issue of illegal immigration. You are a person that does not like law enforcement, you believe they have too much power and are abusing it. You do not believe in any laws that will effect the illegal aliens status of remaining in this country. You are racist and bigoted when it comes to whites and people that disagree with you, judging by how fast you resort to mudslinging. You are a person who puts illegal aliens in front of citizens when it comes to jobs. A person can come to these conclusions about you because it is all in the words you print, you put it out there. The “and your kind” part refers to all the people that believe like you do. I hope that clears things up for you.

I don’t mind when someone attacks my character, it is a pretty strong statement that the person no longer has a valid argument and needs to belittle their opponent. You have not had a valid argument for a long time.

For all of the jobs that I have had since college, as in career-type jobs, I was required to submit a birth certificate, SSN, DL, permanent address as part of the hiring process. IMO, E-verify is another tool that should be used during this process. What has someone got to hide? If I was a naturalized citizen looking for work, or already working for someone, in today’s climate, I would voluntarily go to the H/R department with all of my docs proving my right to be here.

I read Ryan’s comments pretty carefully and I don’t see any critiques of your character anywhere. You’ve come up with that little gem before as soon as the debate progresses, then skip through the rabbit hole and away without at least giving the counterparty in the debate the satisfaction of addressing the points raised.

Now you say I too am attacking your character. If so it was never my intent. I do repudiate the views you expressed as morally indefensible. You have as much as stated that it is permissible for a minority to suffer as long as the majority gets what it wants. I recall you recently posting about how dreadful it is that the Obama administration is “ramming policy down throats” of those who seek to protect the precious profits of the insurance lobby to the detriment of a public option in health care. Your party (yes, I know you’re “independent” but only vote Republican) so whatever, the right wing is in the minority. As far as I am concerned you are in a special interest group. Why is it when the chips fall against you, suddenly the majority needs to consider the minority, but when you have something to gain being in the majority this is no longer so?

You won’t answer questions like these, hence the frustration I perceive in the comments of those who engage you about your views. Whenever the cracks in your arguments are pointed out, suddenly the victim persona appears, high minded, and above all reproach because your character has been impugned.

In your description of me and my kind, I must take issue with your false statement that I “hate white people”. The rest may or may not be true depending on how you look at it, but that one in particular is egregious.

If I have pointed out the crimes wrought by Europeans or Americans, I have done so factually and historically. I use the bigoted rhetoric of nativists against them and expose the failures of that political agenda. It should not be construed as an attack on character to exploit the undefended flank of the ignorant.

I hope that you will return to reasoned engagement over ideas with us and allow dissenters to question your views, before going off in a huff and nursing your wounded character as soon as the debate turns against you.

beholder, you try to attack and belittle the character of anyone that posts more than once on here, that’s just what you do. I read your posts and see that the majority of them are designed to evoke a certain response so you can lay claim that people are racists, that is not debating.

Take your post above and use this as a quote from it, ” Nativists will do anything to feed their hatred even if it means ruining the country” Nice debate there, your posts, more so than not, have gems like that in it.

As far as questions, I answer the ones you put forth in a coherent manner like the ones above when you asked what loopholes I use. As far as you not liking white people, sorry, you have posted far too many times stating your disdain for white people and your off the wall facts that they are the only ones against illegal immigration. You point out things that are in your favor when it comes to history yet you leave so much out. You never point out the crimes that Mexico has perpatrated on its people or even the racism that exsists in that country today, no, you’re too busy slamming American history to meet your agenda, it doesn’t work here.

You attack my character by suggesting that I wish to see a minority suffer so the majority can prosper. My beef is illegal aliens, not legal immigrants. Illegal aliens are not a minority, they are lawbreakers and should be deported when found, just like our laws state. If you can twist that into something horrid, then so be it, it shows your state of mind towards the United States and its laws.

You also attack my character by saying I post something and run down a rabbit hole and don’t give others a chance for rebuttal. You got your rebuttal, heres mine, I gather you will not like it either. Why not answer a few questions that myself and others have given you?

When will there be enough illegal aliens here for you to take notice of the problem?

If amnesty happens would you then be in favor of e-verify, 287-g and the border fence to keep illegals out of the country? Or will you like to keep the status quo and let them all in or open the borders?

Like I have said before beholder, you are a great example of what is wrong with illegal immigration and the people that are enabling it. I don’t want you to stop posting because of that. I hope I answered enough of your questions again.

If amnesty happens would you then be in favor of e-verify, 287-g and the border fence to keep illegals out of the country? Or will you like to keep the status quo and let them all in or open the borders?

I was in favor of the 1986 Amnesty, but after that no rules were put in place to verify legality and stem the flow. What a fool I was, since then there have been 10s of millions of people pouring over our borders because they think we are a bunch of suckers. And I am talking about from all over the world.

As I perceive it the hardest place to install E-Verify, 287 G, or even directing ICE to raid employers is anti-sovereignty Sanctuary Cities and even States? CALIFORNIA seems to be the epitome of Sanctuary States, but it is estimated to be 127 cities and towns that ignore the US government. San Francisco and Los Angeles stands out as being Sanctuary cities where it’s mayors Galvin Newsom and Antonio R. Villaraigosa have cultivated over the years a refuge for the impoverished illegal immigrants, illegal criminals of other countries. Massive benefits for illegal alien families have escalated in California, bring upon the state an ever growing budget meltdown and near bankruptcy. Very few businesses have enforced E-Verify, because at this time there is no mandatory law, except for federal contractors/subcontractors. Sen. Sessions R-AL, has been the fortress against illegal immigration through the Bush and now President Obama administrations. He is determined to adjoin E-Verify as a permanent amendment to the Senate Unemployment benefit extension bill H.R.3548 for 14 weeks. In the same amendment Sen. Sessions would require new applicants for unemployment compensation to have their citizenship status verified using E-Verify.

Senate leaders are currently negotiating which amendments will be considered for the bill, and obnoxious Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is trying to prevent a vote on the amendment altogether. E-Verify is becoming a significant potent weapon against illegal immigration in the ongoing battle. It has come under constant legal bombardment by a long list of open border organizations, including the US chamber of Commerce. E-Verify however remains intact, although other enforcement tools such as 287 G, has been weakened by Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano. Without millions of dollars being appropriated, E-Verify on a continuous basis can eradicate illegal labor for pennies. No need for mass deportation as E-Verify will streamline removal of foreign nationals by their own free will. Parasite businesses are now incessant fear of being fined or sentenced to a prison term if apprehended by ICE for using illegal workers.

Ordinary American workers have become watchdogs for suspicious activity in the working environment. My blogs, comments and articles are limited in information, but its to keep this issue under public scrutiny. For more details of malevolent politicians who need to be constantly reminded who they work for? For immigration enforcement grading, true raw statistics NUMBERSUSA. To light a fire under nonchalant politicians who are selling American workers futures to highest bidder, contact WASHINGTON at 202-224-3121 As easily as you voted for these people, you can vote them OUT? Demand NO–MORE–AMNESTIES. Rebuild a two-tier Southern border fence as originally intended. TELL THEM YOU WANT PERMANENT E-VERIFY FOR EVERY WORKER, WHO’S ON A PAYROLL AND THEREFORE STAND WITH SEN. SESSIONS. Study the corruption in every level of government at JUDICIAL WATCH. Read about unstoppable OVERPOPULATION GROWTH at CAPSWEB. Read the list of legislators who are trying to push through another path to citizenship–alias AMNESTY at http://tinyurl.com/CIR-letter-to-POTUS. THESE CONGRESSMAN/ WOMEN WANT TO STEAL YOUR JOB AND GIVE IT TO ILLEGAL ALIENS? KEEP THEM IMPRINTED IN YOUR MEMORY AND UNSEAT THEM WHEN THEY COME FORWARD FOR RE-ELECTION.

I see you poked your head up out of your rabbit hole beholder, wanna take a stab at the questions I asked you? Or would you rather just keep degrading people with physical deformities in an effort to call my character into question?

Ok RoB, I mean beholder, I understand you don’t want to answer the questions, you can’t, it would show exactly what we all say about you. Instead, just keep doing what you do, insult others to distract from the questions.

Oh what’s the matter beholder? resorting to calling me a ‘heckler’ now? When it comes to illegal aliens, the majority of Americans of all races and political affiliations are against it. In your own little illegal alien loving world, you like to box everyone against it as ‘racist, nativist, right wing terrorists’. That shows everyone that you have no clue yet again what you are talking about. Trying to infer that bearded has a ‘temper’ because yet again he one upped you is just so silly.

No matter how much you try to make the people that disagree with you as ‘ignorant, nativist racists’ you manage to show us your true colors and that is someone who hates law enforcement, because they arrest the illegal aliens and you think we should let everyone in..no questions asked. You have no idea how stupid and dangerous that is. Get a grip on reality beholder. The laws are there for good reason and they aren’t going away no matter how much you stomp your feet and bleat. Amnesty will not happen either. Mark my words.

You might get through the emotions that seem to blind you to the facts about immigration, and enable you to get beyond this deeply intrenched frustration and rage about American polity. You might even begin to see through the stereotypes into the humanity around you.

Tolerance is good for body and spirit. And amnesty, yes amnesty, is nourishing and wholesome for America. Try it and see.

I’m not angry but you are beholder. You are angry because you know the majority of Americans do not want illegal aliens here and want them deported. You are angry that we don’t want amnesty passed and are working hard to contact our representatives to make sure they are listenting to us if they want our vote in 2010. To reward people for coming to our country illegal is insane. It says our laws don’t matter and will encourage more to come to our country illegally.

I am for legal immigration and you know this. They are welcome here and I’m glad to have them. They are the ones that care and respect the laws of our country and for that I am glad to have them. You can keep defending them until you are blue in the face. As you can see, you have very few that agree with you, so if it makes your feel good to defend law breakers ,by all mean go for it. But we will continue to remind you and others that try to defend them, that they should be deported and only come here when they can do so legally.